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White House stumps up millions to probe world's microbiomes

18 May 2016

THE White House is taking an interest in your gut. It has just launched its National Microbiome Initiative, a $500 million effort to understand the complex communities of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that live on or in everything.

Disruptions to our microbial mix have been implicated in a host of diseases, but the microbiome affects the environment too. Microbial imbalances can lead to zones of low oxygen in oceans – killing off fish – while agricultural depletion of bacteria can result in barren soils. The plan is to develop technology to optimise such communities (see “Moonshot or mania?“), says Jo Handelsman at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The government will provide $121 million for the initiative over the next two years, and more than 100 universities, charities, foundations and companies will chip in a further $400 million.

The funding and scope of the project is comparable with – and perhaps larger than – the controversial Human Brain Project, according to a White House spokesperson.